The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation to provide $146 billion to help stimulate the ailing U.S. economy. Slightly different legislation is pending in the Senate.
美国国会众议院通过一项法案，决定提供1460亿美元来帮助刺激美国疲软的经济。参议院正在讨论一份内容稍微不同的法案。
Approval of the stimulus package in the House, by a vote of 385 to 35, shifts the focus to the Senate, where Democrats have proposed adding $10 billion or more to the measure for the unemployed and elderly Americans.
众议院以385票赞同、35票反对的压倒多数通过了这个刺激计划。现在人们的注意力将转向参议院。参议院民主党人提出，在刺激计划中增加100亿美元甚至更多的资金，来解决失业者和老年人问题。
That's something President Bush warned against in his State of the Union address Monday, stating that any attempt to derail or delay the carefully-negotiated legislation would be unacceptable.
这正是布什总统在星期一的国情咨文演说中所反对的。他说，任何人企图推翻和延误这项经过仔细谈判达成的法案都是不可接受的。
During Tuesday's House debate, partisan bickering was largely absent as Republicans and Democrats voiced support for steps to help avoid a recession by injecting money into the pockets of Americans by providing many taxpayers with a $600 tax rebate.
星期二在众议院的讨论中，共和党和民主党之间抛开党派之争，双方都表示支持向美国民众的口袋里注入资金，退还众多纳税人每人600美元的税款，以避免经济出现衰退。
"What the American people want is they want solutions, solutions to the problems that we face in our country. And I believe that the bipartisan measure that we have will in fact help give a short-term boost to our economy," said John Boehner, the Republican minority leader.
众议院共和党籍的少数党领袖博纳说：“美国人民需要的是解决方案，解决我们国家所面对的问题的方案。我相信，这项受到两党支持的法案将会在短期内推动我们的经济。”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked at a news conference about changes being contemplated by Senate Democrats, and whether they might threaten the bipartisan package put together with the White House.
在一个新闻发布会上，有记者问，参议院民主党人考虑对法案作出的改动是否会威胁白宫的这项受到两党支持的计划的通过。
"I don't want anything that is done in the Senate, as much as I would support many of those initiatives, to do any harm to what we have done in our rebate package," she said. "If they add, and there is a finite number, say it is $150 billion, how do they pay for that?"
众议院议长佩洛西说：“虽然我支持参议院提出的许多建议，但是我不想看到参议院的决定伤害到众议院为这项议案所作的工作。如果参议院增加这项议案所需的金额，并且设定一个具体的数字，比如一千五百亿美元，他们要从什么地方筹到这笔钱呢？”
Pelosi said any additions to the House measure that could be negotiated in a bipartisan way between the Senate and Bush administration, will be examined by House and Senate negotiators meeting to reconcile a final version.
佩洛西说，众议院和参议院的谈判人员将召开会议，争取就这项议案的最终版本达成一致意见。他们会审议布什政府和参议院以跨党派方式磋商达成的、在众议院议案基础上增加支出的建议。
However, at a second news conference later with Congressman Boehner, Pelosi repeated an appeal to the Senate to adopt the House version of the stimulus package, saying she feels the figure passed by the House is what can be handled at the moment.
然而，当佩洛西后来同博纳议员共同出席第二场新闻发布会时，她重申，希望参议院能够采纳众议院通过的经济刺激议案。她说，她认为众议院通过的预算数目是目前国库所能承受的。
At the White House, President Bush had this reaction to House passage of the economic stimulus bill.
在白宫，布什总统对众议院通过经济刺激议案作出了以下的反应。
"I do want to congratulate the House of Representatives for overhwhelmingly passing a economic growth package that will help our economy. The temptation is going to be for the Senate to load it up [add money to it]. My concern is that we need to get this bill out of the Senate and on my desk so the checks can get in the hands of our consumers and our businesses can be assured of the incentives necessary to make investments," he said.
他说：“我想对众议院以压倒性票数通过经济增长措施表示祝贺，这项措施将帮助我们的经济。目前存在参议院要增加支出的诱惑。我关心的是，我们需要让这项议案得到参议院的批准，到达我的桌子上，这样消费者们就能拿到退税支票，我们的企业也能得到必要的进行投资的激励措施。”
The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a vote for Wednesday on its version of the legislation.
参议院财政委员会将于星期三对这项议案的参议院版本进行投票。
House and Senate lawmakers hope to be able to get a final stimulus bill to President Bush for signature as quickly as possible, but indications are the process may take until the second week of next month.
参众两院的议员们希望能尽快将最终的刺激性议案送交布什总统签字，但是有迹象显示，这个程序可能要到2月的第二个星期才能完成。 |